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from THE INDEPENDENT, Why do adults read children's books? Blame modern life ! Dr Louise Joy, a Cambridge University academic, believes classic children's books, and the work they inspire, attract older readers because they give them things they cannot find in everyday lives, including direct communication, tasty home-cooked food, and tolerance towards eccentricity...(representing) 'a symbolic retreat from the disappointment of reality'.

I re-read THE WATER BABIES every year!

My Independent Bookshop Was created by Penguin Random House, with Hive.

‘Too often,’ Dan Franklin wrote In his blog in the Bookseller magazine, ‘The web assures us we are right, and that we’ve got great taste. But the art of bookselling and great publishing is actually predicated on the idea that no-one knows what they want until they are introduced to it.’

There's nothing new in that!

Dan's blog continues:'And recommendation amongst friends is particularly special because someone who knows you intimately (!) can put something into your hands that they've discovered and want you to discover in turn.'

Nothing new there, either! That's exactly what The People's Book Prize (Patron: Sir Frederick Forsyth) was set up to encourage.